copyright on gunlaug.com

copyright reminder

Normal decent people don't need copyright reminders. You already
know what the term “copyright” means, and respect other people's work
and property.

Those who don't fit the “normal decent people” description are
unlikely to read copyright notes, as they probably don't care about such
matters as long as they don't get caught.

I am writing this copyright text because I want to make my
position on the issue known in one spot on site. Besides, I have all this
space available…

formally, and practically

In most countries original writing and work of art is regarded as personal
property protected from being exploited by others without consent for quite
a number of years after the creator/owner has – formally –
left this world. For details: read up on international copyright
agreements.

The basics are pretty clear: original stuff ain't free to use/exploit until
long after the creator died. I am still around – in case anyone
wondered.

I do of course have better things to do than to seek up and
run after people who like my stuff so much that they can't leave it alone.
Always nice if they ask first and borrow later though, as that is how normal,
decent, people go about it.

my official variant

the content: All information, illustrations, ideas and
views presented in this document, are the author's own unless clearly stated
otherwise. In common everyday language that means you should ask the author for permission before ripping off
or copying any of the content for any purpose. As a bare minimum you
should behave like a decent member of the world wide web community and
always state where the stuff comes from and refer (link) back to the original
article. My thanks go to all those who have
contacted me about such matters over the years. I really
appreciate it!

the code: Markup, CSS, scripts etc. behind this web
document, are all created by the author, unless clearly stated otherwise in
individual files. Same is true for the design itself, and all images and other
elements that make up or complement the design. In short: it is my
property and copyright protected as such.Borrow
ideas as much as you like if you manage to find anything useful around here,
but I strongly object to anyone copying my code, designs and/or files
without having asked for and received my written permission. Again, my thanks go to all those who have contacted me about
such matters over the years.

I haven't turned any serious requests down yet, although I have
advised a few amateurs to look for layouts elsewhere since I don't have
time to help anyone make my sitewide ones work for them.

about gunlaug.com

The site name “gunlaug.com” reflects the author's
wife's name: Gunlaug Solås. At the
moment there are five sites fully up or
in a state of prepa­ra­tion, under our control and reflecting the
same name.

There are a couple of private businesses behind “gunlaug.com”
and our other sites, but these sites are not launched primarily to promote these
or any other businesses.
Instead these sites are our private playground and information channels, that along
with our facebook pages – for Georg
and Gunlaug
respec­tively – make up our private presence on the web.

This information is included here as a general response to
infrequent requests regarding our sites name, and our relations to various businesses
worldwide.
In case you, or someone you represent, should show interest in buying any of my
domain names, I will also mention that neither “gunlaug.com”, nor
any of our other domains under the “gunlaug” name, are for sale.

contact me

I am not seeking contact with anyone, and am too busy for “smalltalk”.
Serious requests and comments related to my web work, content and site(s) are
always welcome though, and I will respond as quickly as possible.

It is easy to get in touch with me – just write an email. If you write in clear English and make sure
not to write or include anything stupid, a serious mail is likely to pass
my “mailbird filters” unharmed.

kind of flattering

Plagiarism and theft
is growing with the expansion of the web and similar channels. More and more
people show less and less respect for other people's work and property.
A sad fact, but also kind of flattering for those who get their work
copied or imitated. Someone must really like it a lot in order to take the
chance of being caught and shamed.

No hard laws against plagiarism, but if the person/group behind the original
work have a case and really want to do something about it, they won't have
to look far for moral support.

a few copies around

For obvious reasons I won't point/link to the few copies of my earlier
site-layouts I have found while surfing. It doesn't bother me the
slightest that they are up, I was just a bit surprised to find that
someone really thought they were worth copying.

In my case I have a suspicion that someone copied those layouts to
study how they worked. If that's the case it's kind of OK with me, as learning
by dissecting other people's web-work may speed up the learning-process.

Not a good idea to place complete copies of other people's
layouts/​designs in the open on the web for any reason though, as not
everyone like to find non-approved copies of their own work while
surfing/​searching.

Better keep such stuff out of view on a local hard-disk or in
a password-protected folder on line, and study how they work there.

study web-work

The W3C actually promotes learning web
design by down­loading and studying other people's work, and I do of
course have no problem with such a policy. For the average wannabe web
designer / coder there aren't all that many good alternatives to learn in depth
how it is done.

Although the number of sites that offer web-templates, complete solutions,
and all kinds of related stuff for free, is quite high, much of what is being
offered isn't exactly ground-breaking stuff. Most of that stuff is plenty good
enough for those who only want to copy and paste for a private site, but not if
one wants to build and present a site as ones own creation.

There are great exceptions if one knows what to look for and where to look,
but for the average wannabe web designer / coder, finding and sorting out the
really good stuff in a sea of “just web-stuff” can't be all that
easy. Once upon a time I was in that very same position myself, which is
why I started to “roll my own” designs and solutions.

As with all else in life: once you know how it all works, building up web sites
from scratch with all wanted design details and functionality in place, is fairly
easy. All one need is plenty of time and patience, to code and test.

I recommend sifting through the markup and CSS documen­tation on the W3C site first, where the web standards are explained
in (quite) some details. Looking around for well-working design-examples should
rather be put off until you have acquired some basic knowledge, so you can at
least sort the fairly good examples from the really bad ones.

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addendum

somewhat related.

Remember:HTML and CSS is just more or less standard code, and
as such it is of course not protected under any copyright law. But, same as with
books written using standard words and put together using standard book binding
techniques, the complete work – content and/or design – is protected
by copyright laws. Copies are just that –
copies, and as such they are not worth much compared to the original work.
I rather have an original, even if I have to make one myself…

Rip-offs:
I have found a few unauthorized copies of my designs out here, most complete
with my tell-tale signature HTML/CSS code-snippets in
place. Nearly all show signs that those who have copied them have not been
able to make proper use of my code. No big deal to me, but not very smart of
them. So much free stuff floating around, that
all would-be web designers / publishers should be able to find something they
can manage.

more information.

My e-mail address: author@gunlaug.com, is presented in plain
code/view on many pages throughout the site. Hidden e-mail addresses or contact
forms is not my “thing”.
I will respond to all serious comments and requests about any matter
I feel familiar and comfortable with, as soon as I can. Be patient
though, I am very busy in periods.Regarding spam: I am not the least worried about exposing my mail address to people with less than
honest intents and/or “quirky business” ideas. After having exposed
the very same mail address for over a decade, both I and my
mail-filters are well trained in handling bad stuff while keeping
the good.

The author has only spent time on the web since 1996, and
been seriously involved in promoting accessibility, information,
web
standards, and positive trends across the world wide web since 2002.
I am as busy now as I ever was, and that says a lot for a mechatronicautomation engineer in early
retirement. This web-site and a couple of
others, make up my personal workspace and playground on the web, and
I spend some time expanding and maintain­ing these sites when­ever
I can pull myself away from more important matters both in the real world
and on-line.